A spectacular range of artisanal production is encountered at indus cities.On the one hand, specialized crafts that had roots in the preceding preiod became more complex in terms of technological processes, and on the other hand, the combination of raw materials beings used, expanded. along with the widespread urban demand for shell artifacts, semi-precious stone and steatite beads, faience object and implements as also jewellery in base and precious metals.
The Harappan Civilization (Artisanal Production and Trade)
Last Updated On: 15 August 2023
A spectacular range of artisanal production is encountered at indus cities.On the one hand, specialized crafts that had roots in the preceding preiod became more complex in terms of technological processes, and on the other hand, the combination of raw materials beings used, expanded. along with the widespread urban demand for shell artifacts, semi-precious stone and steatite beads, faience object and implements as also jewellery in base and precious metals. it is now reasonably clear that the indus civilaztion was not, in the main, a bronze using culture. pure copper was the dominat tradition. additionally, there was a veriety of alloys ranging from low and high grade bronzes to copper-lead and copper-nickel alloys.
Some of the crafted objects are quintessentially indus, in the sense that they are neither found prior to the advent of the urban civilazation nor after its collapse. selas (inscribed, square or rectangle in shape, with representations of animals, most notably the 'unicron') for example, are rarely found in the late harappan and post-harappan contexts since the commercial transactions for which they were used had dramatically shrunk. This is also true for the series of indus stone statues of animals and men, of which the most famous is that of the 'priest king'.These appear to have had a politico-religious significance and are in a sculptural idiom that is very much within the realm of 'highArt'.The disappearance of the stone carving tradition can be linked to the abandonment of urban centers along with the migration and tramsfromtion of elite groups. similarly, long barrel carnelin beads are a typical indus luxury product, which were primarily manufactured at chanhundaro. Their crafting demand both skill and time; the preforation in a 6 to 13 cm length bead required between three to eigth days. Evidently , the largely deurbanized scenario that followed the collapse of cities could not sustian such a specialized production.
One of the most striking feature of the indus crafts traditions is that they are not region-specific. shell objects were manufactured at nagwada and nageshwar in Gujarat and at chanhundaro and mohenjodaro in sind. Similarly, metal artefacts were produced at Lothal in Gujarat, at harappa in the Bari doab of punjab and at Allahadino and mohenjodaro in sind. While crafts objects were manufactured at many places, the manufactued technology could be surprisingly standardized In the case of shell bangles,at practically all sites they had a unifrom width of between 5 mm and 7 mm and they were almost everywhere sawn by a saw that a blade thickness of crafts production is that, in a number of cases, manufacture depemnded on raw materials that were not locally available. At mohenjodaro, shell artifacts were manifactured from the marine mollusc, turbinella pyrum, found along the sind and baluchistan coast which was brougth in a raw state from there. Similarly, there is impressive evidence of manufacture of copper based crafted items at harappa ranging from furnaces to slag and unfinished objects, even thought the city was located in a minerally poor area.
The above mentioned crafts production could survive and prosper because of a highly organzied trading system. Indus people had the capacity to mobilize resources from various area ranging from rajasthan to afghanistan and, considering the scale of manufacture, it is likely that there were full-time traders that helped in providing the necessary raw materials. most of these resources- rich areas also show evidence of contact with the indus civilazation. For example,at chalcolithic kulli culture sites, Harappan unicorn seals and pottery have been found. Similarly,the exploitration of rajasthan's raw materials is underlined by Harappan pottery at some sities of the ganeshwar-jodhpura chacolithic complex and by the strong stylistic similarities in the copper arrowheads, spearheads and fish hooks of the two cultures.
In addition to raw materials,other types of objects were traded. On the one hand, there was trade in food items as is underlined by the presence of marine cat fish at harappan, a city that was hundred of kilometers away from the sea. Crafts items were also traded. Small manufacturing centres like Nageshwar were providing shell ladles to mohenjofdaro which also received chert blades from the Rorhi hills of sind. It is now possible to visualize the exchange of finished objects between the monumental cities of the indus civilization as well. For instance, stoneware bangles - a highly siliceous, partially sintered ceramic body with low porosity - manufactured at mohenjodaro have been found 570 kilometers north, at Harappan. The nature of the social process involved in this exchange is unknown but is unlikely to be case of satisfying an econimic demand, since Harappan was also producing such bangles.Possibly, the unidirectional movement of some bangles from mohenjodaro to Harappan is related to social transaction among related status or kin groups in the two cities.
The indus civilazation had wide ranging contacts with cultures and civilazation to the northwest and west of its distibution ares. Indus and indus-related objects have been found in north Afghanisthan, Turkmenistan, north and south iran, Bahrain,failaka and the oman peninsua in the presian gulf, and north and south mesopotamia. The objects include etched carnelian and long barrel-cylinder carnelian beads, square/ rectangular Indus seals, pottery with the indus script, 'indus' motifs on local selas, ivory objects, and various terracottas such as ithyphallic specimens that have strong indus analohues. Externally derived objects and traits have been found at indus sites such as seals with masopotamian and persian Gulf affinities, derived motifs on seals and steatite vesseis.